meiha

I truly agree with you on that especially these shooting perks create positive aspects regarding how the game is played. At the same time, I also think they create the problem that the game must be played in a specific way to succeed, making it repetitive and dull to watch and play. That's why I'm looking forward to these tournaments where these features are not in use. Will they change the game in the direction I believe. It might be that one tournament is too short a time to see these effects if players are not ready to experiment new things. That remains to be seen. I have nothing against these special abilities, even I think they are unnecessary. I just think they are poorly integrated into the World of Chel game mode. Some of them are just too obvious to use. If I were a game developer, I would make them less obvious by adding a downside to them. For example, if you want to use a gold 1T perk, your speed could decrease by 5 points or something, with the silver perk having a smaller penalty. That way, you could decide whether it's worth using the gold, silver, or no special ability at all. This would make them a bit rarer and might create more space for other player types aswell. This would be closer to playing without perks while still having them in the game. Sorry for the slight off-topic thinking!

Can someone with knowledge of game mechanics explain the difference between the gold 1t perk and the silver 1t perk, as well as the same for Close Quarters? Are they comparable in some way? For example, is an 85+ shooting attributes with a silver 1t perk comparable to a gold 1t perk with low shooting attributes? Please don't say that the gold 1t perk is must-have to score goals.

Could it be that good goalies read the game well and when people have used to use these perks, their habit is to look one-timers everytime or other chances that gives the reward with perks. It makes things easier from goalie perpective in my opinion. Should goalies be rewarded aswell if they are really good? Perhaps there is a need to find different ways to score goals, be more unpredictable?

I utilize speed to fix my positioning issues. It requires skill to position myself and anticipate situations at a slower pace. If I can't learn that, then I'll just have to bang my head against the wall when I don't get rewarded for good scoring chances with poor shooting ratings. However, in my opinion, this would at least bring the much-needed variety to the game.

Why is reducing speed not an option? Is it something that people don’t want to do, or is it mandatory at the highest level? If players who focus on shooting have to give up their speed, then not everyone else should have to be fast either. Golden perks does not need any level from ratings.

But is it real variation or just cosmetic? You can equip the Truculence perk and allocate points to stick checking. You can take the Stick Checking perk and put points into hitting ability. You can choose a Shooting perk and assign points to speed, and so on...

And I say that the game is broken. If the game offers countless possibilities for different player types, but only a handful are viable, then something is not right in my opinion. The problem, at least as I see it, comes from the fact that, as you said, you can balance things with special abilities. You can balance your shooting ability without having to give up your speed. And you can also balance other weak abilities with special skills. This leads to a situation where every player on the ice is very close to being a copy of one another. I don’t hate the players for this, I hate the game. But if there is at least a hypothetical way to fight against this nonsense created by the developers, I would take that opportunity every time. And if large communities stop exploiting this nonsense, there is a small chance that the developers will abandon it in the future.

I’m really struggling to believe that the game developers have concluded that an 80 shooting power rating and a single trait are a better option for scoring goals than 90+ shooting attributes. I’m not saying that isn’t the case because I don’t have enough knowledge of the game mechanics. If that’s really the truth that shooting perks are must-have, I might just have to delete the entire game from my console.

What kind of good scoring chances are being discussed that don't go in without traits? One-timers from a longer distance? As a lower-level Tapani myself, I experience many good scoring chances where these traits don't even activate, and the puck still goes in, even with bad shooting attributes.

In my opinion, the idea that top level players know what is best is flawed. Everyone’s approach to this discussion should be about what is best for SportGamer as a product. What would bring more players, followers, and viewers to the community/product, and what would engage existing players. Separating the top level from the rest is, in my view, the wrong approach. If the opinion of the majority does not align with that of the top level, the top level will lose its appeal, which is bad for SportGamer. After all, the money for top level rewards also comes from the masses.

My belief is/was that shooting abilities have effect. However, if this is not the case, it does not make sense to ban all the traits. If you cannot be an effective goal scorer for your team by increasing/maximizing your shooting attributes, everyone will choose speed instead of shooting. Shooting abilities are important because they are in same category with skating abilities, meaning players must somewhat choose between them. This could also give more chance for bigger player types. Luckily, now there will be tournaments where all traits are banned, so we can gain more experience on this matter.

Ok, good to know. If attributes (especially shooting attributes) actually does not matter much, I'll have to rethink my opinion about banning all traits. Thanks 👍

Could be, I don't know. Things needs to be tested. You may have more experience on the matter than me, but have your tried to play games without X-factor/Superstar abilities with player build where you have allocated the skill points to shooting abilities so that they are a way over 90 each and you still can't score?

It is just what kind of gameplay I prefer. As an occasional viewer of Sportsgamer streams it would make the games more interesting to watch...for me. I don't say it is something that needs to be, it is just what I prefer. In the end the owner of this Sportsgamer product is the one who decides what kind of gameplay is the best for the product.

In my opinion, this has nothing to do with competitiveness. Competitiveness remains as long as everyone has the same options available. This is more about what kind of gameplay each person prefers. Banning only some abilities favors a specific playstyle and team tactics. It takes away depth from the game. I believe that banning all X-Factors and Superstar abilities adds more depth to the game. If you want to shine in a certain area with your character, you have to sacrifice points from another. You can't compensate your characters mediocre skills with special abilities. Without these special abilities, there is at least hope that we will start to see variations between player builds.